Chapter 6

The revelation of Mathias's plans slammed into Eliza's mind hard and she staggered back a step in shock. Mathias almost forgot himself and went to steady her with a hand to her shoulder, but Eliza stayed his hand with a piercing glare, her glowing eyes full of hatred.

"You are a fool Mathias!" She stated through clenched teeth, then added, her voice full of venom, "Even if you succeed in turning me back into your precious little wife, what makes you think there'd be any love still beating in her heart for you?"

That very same thought had plagued Mathias's mind for years, but hearing those words come from Eliza's mouth cut through his heart like a knife. Eliza noticed how her words had affected him and a hint of an evil smile touched the edge of her lips, which didn't go unnoticed by Mathias. His moment of pain was suddenly replaced by anger and he turned his back on her and went to leave the stage, then just as he was about to step down onto the floor he paused and retorted back at her over his shoulder, "You may not have any love for human kind in your current form, but you are not pure demon, and while there is still a trace of humanity left in you I still have a chance to turn you back. We shall find out tonight when I strip you of your demon side if you still have any love for me!"Mathias noticed the hint of panic materialize on her face for a brief instant and now the hint of a smile came to his lips as he said, "Make yourself comfortable, we have a few hours to wait before it is time for me to turn you back, and don't bother trying to escape, I had this room specially built to contain you, all of your efforts will be futile."

Before Eliza could respond they suddenly heard Marcus groan as he was starting to regain consciousness, and not wanting another vicious attack from Marcus, Mathias decided now was the appropriate time to head back into the house, so he quickly made his way up the stairs with Katharine close at his heels, securely locking the door to the music studio behind them, and to wait until nightfall where he can finally attempt to get his wife back and have his vengeance on Marcus.Eliza instantly raced to Marcus's side to see if he was injured, but he appeared to only have had the wind knocked out of him so she helped him get groggily to his feet.

Eliza held Marcus in a tight embrace for a moment feeling relieved that he hadn't sustained any serious injury or worse. She broke the embrace but continued to hold him close and gazed into his eyes with a look of deep sorrow in hers.Marcus's rattled mind started to clear and he suddenly recalled what had transpired prior to Eliza helping him up from the floor. A look of rage instantly crossed his face as hispiercing gaze surveyed the room, then his eyes settled on hers. "Where's Mathias!" He demanded from her.Not being able to hold his intense scrutiny she lowered her eyes to the floor and replied in a quiet voice, "They have both gone up into the house." Her eyes met his again as she uttered, "I feel like such a fool for getting us into this mess and falling into his trap!"Marcus could see the pain in her eyes and made to console her but she brushed him off. She took a deep breath, gathered her thoughts, then proceeded to fill him in on what occurred while he was unconscious.

Mathias walked into the living room with Katharine not far behind, she could see by the expression on his face that his mind was in turmoil. He wandered over to the fireplace and stood there staring at the crackling flames, his hands clutching the mantle, his shoulders slumped and his head bowed."You are troubled." Katherine said more as a statement than a question.Mathias turned and faced her. "Am I a fool to believe I can turn her back?" He pleaded, the pain and torment clear on his face.Katharine walked up behind him and proceeded to massage the knotted tension from his shoulders while saying in a soothing voice, "You are only a fool to start doubting yourself. Don't let her words poison your heart and mind, or all is lost. Years you have spent gaining knowledge and power to bring you success on this night. You could not be more ready, so have faith that tonight you shall be victorious."Mathias turned and faced her with a look of gratitude on his face and replied with resolve and renewed strength in his voice, "You're right, I should not doubt myself. She knows I still have great love in my heart for her and will try and use that against me in order to try and escape. Tonight the wrong shall be righted and she'll be returned to me."

Katharine gave him a reassuring smile then stated, "You should get some rest, we have a few hours before nightfall, and you must be tiredafter flying back here after I called informing you Eliza had contacted me to arrange their audition.""I'm exhausted!" Mathias said wearily as he sat down on the sofa.She put her hand on his shoulder as she said, "I thought as much, wait here a moment and I'll make you something to drink to help you relax and get a restful sleep.""Thanks." He replied with a weary smile as she turned and left the room.Moments later she returned only to discover that he had already fallen asleep curled up on the sofa. She quietly placed the drinks on the coffee table and stood there watching him. She could tell by the rolling of his eyes behind his eyelids and the occasional body twitch that he was having a dream, and pondered momentarily what itmay be about, then knowing there was yet things to organize in preparation for tonight, she quietly left the room.

MATHIAS'S DREAM;They were a young couple very much in love and today was their first wedding anniversary. It was early in the morning and Mathias was preparing to head off to work. Beth wished he didn't have to go so they could spend a romantic day together celebrating their special day, but knew she had to let him go, jobs were hard to come by at the moment and she didn't want to cause him disfavor with his boss."I wish you could stay with me today," Beth said pouting, then grabbing his hands added, "but I know you need to go. You shall be on my mind all day, please try not to stay too late so we can have a romantic evening together."Mathias gave her a warm smile, his eyes and voice full of affection, "I wished I could stay too but we are so busy at the moment that they were unable to give me time off, but I shall return home as soon as I am able."Beth wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him in a tight embrace and said into his ear, "I love you so much Mathias Black!""I love you more Elizabeth Black!" He replied, then gave her a passionate and lingering kiss.He broke the embrace and stole a few treasured moments gazing into her beautiful eyes, then saying their goodbyes he grabbed his bagand headed out the door.

It was later than Mathias had hoped when he was walking back up their driveway that evening, as he had made a small detour to buy Beth a large bunch of beautiful flowers, but he was only half way up their driveway when he heard Beth utter a shrill and terrified scream. He instantly raced to the door dropping the flowers, but it seemed to be barred from the inside and was unable to open it. He raced across to a window just as he heard another scream come from beyond from Beth and saw a horrific scene unfold before his eyes. Beth was being confronted by an evil demon-like man with wings, horns and fangs. Mathias couldn't believe what he was seeing, this sort of thing didn't really exist in real life, did it?In sheer terror Mathias hammered his fists on the window and screamed out, "Beth!"The demon-like man's head instantly jerked around in Mathias's direction and he glared at him with evil glowing eyes, then an evil grin spread across his lips revealing his long fangs.Beth had also looked to the window and Mathias could see the sheer panic stricken terror on her face.The demon-like man noticed her moment of distraction and seized the opportunity to grasp her upper arms in a vice like grip,then sank his long fangs deep into the side of her neck.Beth let out a small wail and her eyes went wide with shock, then her body went limp and her eyes closed.Mathias raced back to the door and in utter desperation threw his whole body weight against it. The door frame splintered with a loud crack and the door swung open sending him sprawling inside.

Mathias rushed into the Living Room and found Beth alone laying on the floor. He looked frantically around the room but her attacker was nowhere to be seen. He knelt down beside her body and cradled her head in his lap. With shaking hands he checked for any signs of life, and to his immense relief she was still breathing, all be it shallowly. There were two puncture wounds on the side of her neck where she had been bitten and blood still drizzled slowly down her neck. He stood lifting her up in his arms and carried her to the bedroom and gently put her into the bed. He then raced to the phone and called for a doctor, all the while checking for any sign of her attacker, of which he still found none. The doctor agreed to come straight over, so with that organized Mathias went back to Beth with a clean towel to try and stop the bleeding until the doctor arrived.Upon inspection the doctor was puzzled as to what had attacked her, and Mathias dared not tell him the truth, who would believe such a story, he still wasn't sure he believed it himself, even though he had seen it with his own eyes. The doctor treated the wounds to her neck and gave her an injection to fight against any infection but otherwise there was not much more he could do. Her breathing had returned to normal by this time and she was in a semi-conscious state. She had uttered Mathias's name a couple of times, so the doctor was content to leave her at home to get much needed rest and recover, but warned if her condition worsened to bring her to the hospital.Over the next four days he barely left her bedside, and her condition didn't change much. There were moments where she would open her eyes and call his name, he would jump up and answer, only to have her eyes close again and she'd fall back into a deep sleep.On the fourth night she suddenly sat upright in bed. He had been dozing in the chair next to her, and her sudden movement made his eyes pop open. His relief instantly changed to shock when she turned and looked at him and her eyes were glowing the same as her attackers had. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back, her mouth opened wide and a nerve wrenching scream of pain erupted from her as long fangs formed in her mouth.Mathias, in utter panic ran from the room and into complete darkness. No lights had been turned on in the rest of the house and all the curtains were still drawn, so apart from the bedroom the rest of the house was totally dark. He stood there frozen in fear, there were no light switches close at hand, so he stared blindly into the darkness, and the only sound he could now hear was his racing heart thumping in his ears.A hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder from behind, shaking him, and...

...woke up to discover Katharine had her hand on his shoulder gently shaking him in an effort to wake him. He sat up with a start, blinking the sleep from his eyes, he felt slightly disorientated after dreaming what had occurred years ago, then shaking the remnants of the dream from his mind he got to his feet."Night has fallen." Katharine informed him in a somewhat quiet and sombre tone."Thanks Katharine." Mathias replied, then asked, "How goes things down in the studio?""Since you left everything turned on in the studio's control room the camera was still on so I've been able keep an eye on them from the study. They spent a little time trying to find a way out but soon realized it was pointless, mostly they have been standing around talking in hushed tones, so I couldn't make out what they were saying."A satisfied look came to Mathias's face knowing they were still securely contained, then Katharine added with a grin, "Just before I came to wake you Marcus started complaining about all the stage lights and effects still being on and headed for the control room to try and figure out how to turn them off.""Perfect!" Mathias grinned back. "He will undoubtedly make things so much easier for me now."Katharine raised a quizzical eyebrow but he didn't elaborate on what he meant by that, instead he said, "Let's go and get this over with." He then lead the way to the music studio.

Marcus walked into the control room grumbling under his breath but paused momentarily when he saw all the complex looking equipment everywhere, then to his relief he saw a computer on the desk that was still on that had all the lights and effects listed on the screen with the options to turn them on or off. He sat down at the desk and proceeded to turn each one off, noticing as he did so through the two way mirror that things were turning off at the stage. At the bottom of the screen was a warning not to shut down the computer as it will turn off the cameras, he looked more closely around himand realized there were surveillance cameras in the control room and music studio, and that they were most likely being observed. With a grimace he clicked shut down and got out of the chair. The instant the computer screen went black he heard the locks in the door behind him securely click into place.

When Mathias and Katharine approached the door to the music studio he saw the flashing red light on the security panel next to the door that indicated the cameras had been turned off and the door to the control room was now locked.He looked at Katharine and said with a smile, "It looks like the rat has been caught in the trap."Knowing that Marcus was securely locked away in the control room and posed no threat in interfering in his plans, he unlocked and opened the door to the music room and lead the way down the stairs with renewed confidence.As soon as Eliza saw them enter the music studio she called out to Marcus but Mathias cut her off, "Save your breath, he's securely locked in the control room and he can't hear you, it's completely sound proof, but he will be able to see everything that happens here tonight, not only shall I have you back as my wife, but I shall also have my vengeance on him, for he will have to watch me take you from him just as I had to watch him take you from me."Eliza gave the control room a worried glance, and Mathias, not giving her another moment to react, uttered some words under his breath while extending his hands in front of him, and a blinding light suddenly shot forth from his hands and enveloped her.

As soon as the light vanished Mathias's heart soared with joy as he saw Beth standing there, her eyes tightly shut to shield them from the blinding light, and she looked just as he remembered her, but when her eyes opened his heart shattered into a million pieces and he knew instantly by her dark eyes that it had gone terribly wrong. He had endeavored to strip her of her demon side and have her restored again as fully human, but it had backfired, and he had instead stripped her of her human side and she was now pure demon.

Beth suddenly let out a scream of pure hatred then levitated effortlessly off the floor, hovering mere inches from the ceiling. Not knowing what Beth would do next, Katharine ran to Mathias's side in the hope that he could offer her some protection.Beth looked down at them both and let out a long drawn out evil laugh, then sneered, "You fools! I was hoping to gain great power through the taking of many souls, but you have just given me so much more than I had ever dreamed! I no longer need souls, I am now demon and you have just handed me all the power I desired!"Katharine stole a glance at Mathias and saw the devastation on his face. How quickly the tide had turned, only moments ago he was so full of confidence and so sure he was going to succeed, then it suddenly occurred to her, in their moment of confidence they neglected to lock the door to the music studio.Beth's eyes suddenly snapped to the door as though she had just read Katharine's mind and glided effortlessly to the base of the stairs, her feet touching gently onto the floor. She let out another blood curdling evil laugh, then turned, ran up the stairs and through the door.

"Follow her!" Mathias bellowed at Katharine as they ran up the stairs after her. "Don't let her out of your sight. She will need to find somewhere to sleep during the daylight hours as now in her demon form she no longer has any immunity to sunlight.Once you know where she's gone report back to me, I need to prepare to go after her."In that instant there was a loud crack and a flash of light that came from outside the front of the house followed by the clatter of metal falling onto the driveway, then a car started and proceeded to pull out of the driveway.Katharine raced into the garage with her car keys in hand and pressed the button on them to open the garage door and jumped into her car. As she reversed out she saw Beth had used her new-found power to blow apart the front gate and she had just started driving down the road in the car she had arrived in. Katharine pulled out onto the road and followed Beth at a reasonable distance so as not to alert her that she was being followed.After about an hour Beth pulled into an overgrown car park of an abandoned graveyard on the outskirts of Paris. Katharine turned her headlights off and rolled her car to a stop outside the front gate in time to see Beth enter a building, and satisfied that this is where she'll be staying to sleep out the day, as daybreak was only now a few hours away, she turned around and sped back to the house to inform Mathias where Beth had gone.Mathias was pleased to discover where Beth was, he knew the place well as he had done "business" there before, but Katharine had her concerns. "Are you sure you should be confronting her tonight?" She queried, then tried reasoning with him. "Now that her powers have grown you can't be certain what you'll be up against and can't be properly prepared..."He angrily cut her off, "The longer I wait the more time she has to learn the true potential of her powers and the less chance I have in being successful, and the more bodies she'll leave in her wake. I have no choice but to go after her now!"He grabbed his bag that he had prepared full of supplies, and giving her a stern look warning her that he wanted no more argument, he got into his car and sped off down the road.

Katharine couldn't shake the terrible feeling that Mathias was going to die, and suddenly she knew what she had to do. Against her better judgement she went down to the music studio and unlocked the door to the control room. She expected Marcus to come charging out of the room like a mad bull and quickly stepped away from the door, but to her surprise he just walked slowly out and stood facing her.He was barely keeping his anger in check, and with a heaving chest and flaringnostrils he said through clenched teeth, "I'm judging by the way I saw you come and unlock the door that you have something to say, you have one chance to convince me why I shouldn't rip your throat out right now!""I need your help," she stammered, then fell back a step as the side of his mouth curled up in a sneer and he let out a menacing growl.She collected her courage again and repeated, "I need your help, Mathias is going up against Beth..."Marcus let out another growl but she stood her ground and corrected herself so as not to anger him further, "...Eliza, now that her powers have grown I fear she is going to kill him."Marcus let out a menacing laugh and taunted, "I see no problem with that!""But Mathias is the only chance you have of getting your Eliza back!" She reasoned. "In her current form she will never have any interest in you again, and if she kills Mathias she will remain as she is."She saw the truth of this reasoning flicker momentarily in his glowing eyes so she continued, "On the other hand, if he does succeed in destroying her, then remember that you are still only linked to this world through her as you have not yet reached the full moon, your link to this world shall then be broken and you shall return to the underworld."Marcus didn't want to admit it but he knew she was right, he needed Mathias if he wanted any hope of remaining in this world and get Eliza back. He glared at her with his menacing glowing eyes and stated, "I guess you get to keep your throat for yet another day, we had best get moving if we wish to get there in time."

Mathias arrived at the graveyard and stood there for a moment staring at the building through the darkness trying to compose himself. Having seen Beth again as she had once looked brought a turmoil of emotions flooding back, his heart had swelled with love and joy at seeing her again, only to have it shattered at the realization that it had gone so terribly wrong, and now knowing that he had to look upon her face again with the intention to destroy her was like a red hot poker burning into his heart. He didn't know if he had the strength to carry this through. The torment he suddenly felt was overbearing as he looked down at his shaking hands, knowing they shall soon be used to try and remove her from this world forever.He closed his eyes, trying to work out in his mind what had gone wrong, but he was at a loss. He and Katharine had spent two years researching the ritual to change Beth back and he had done everything to the letter.The image of Beth's face as she opened her dark eyes in the music studio suddenly came to his mindand his eyes flicked open with a start.He clenched his shaking hands into tight fists and saidto himself under his breath with new resolve, "She is no longer Beth! She is no longer my wife! She is no longer human! I must do what must be done!"With new-found conviction he proceeded into the building.

Press play to watch the next scene of Mathias's confrontation with Beth. For the best quality picture watch it in HD.

Katharine and Marcus walked through the door just in time to see Beth disintegrate in a ball of flame and her remains drift to the floor. They both stood there in shock, but then Marcus suddenly felt a hot wind start to swirl around him and realized his link to this world had just been broken and he was about to get pulled back to the underworld. Just as Mathias was getting to his feet Marcus ran up to him and in desperation and rage he wrapped his strong arms around him, and in that very instant flames shot up through the floor with a deafening roar engulfing the both of them. A crack opened up in the floor beneath them with a loud rumble and they both were pulled into the underworld. The crack in the floor closed again with a grinding groan extinguishing the flames, and all that remained where they had just stood was a wisp of smoke and a dirty black charred stain on the floor.

Katharine stood by the door in stunned silence. She was pleased that Elizabeth and Marcus were now gone, but devastated that Mathias had been taken too. Over the years that she had been with him she had fallen deeply in love with him, but he had never noticed as he had always been consumed with his love for Beth and his plans to get her back. It was for that very reason Katharine had sabotaged the ritual to turn Beth back to human, and gave him the wrong information without his knowledge which stripped her of her human side and instead made her pure demon.

Just as tears started to well up in her eyes for her loss of Mathias, a bright blue light suddenly shot out of the floor where Mathias and Marcus had been standing and slammed into her. Her whole body started to glow with the blue light with such bright intensity that it hurt her eyes and she was forced to close them.

When she reopened her eyes she gave out an evil laugh, then said in a mockingly hollow voice, "Well this is an unexpected turn of events, all I wanted was his love, but now I have something even greater, I have just received all three of their souls and all of their powers!"

She turned and opened the door revealing a now beautiful sunny morning, and casually walked to her car.